Hawzah News Agency - (Karbala - Iraq) - Millions of Muslims in Iraq who rallied from the city of Najaf to the city of Karbala arrived in Karbala city on Saturday to mark the Arbaeen.

Huge numbers of Iranian Muslim pilgrims also walked towards the holy city of Karbala for the annual Arabaeen mourning ceremonies despite attempts to magnify security concerns after the recent unrests in Iraq.

Millions of others inside Iran who could not travel to Iraq commemorated Arbaeen in mosques across the country.

Arbaeen, which is the largest religious gatherings in the world, comes 40 days after Ashura, the martyrdom anniversary of the third Shia Imam, Imam Hussein (AS).

Each year, millions of Shia flock to Karbala, where the holy shrine of Imam Hussein (AS) is located, to perform mourning rites. Many of them also visit Imam Ali’s (AS) holy shrine in Najaf.

In the past few years, around 20 million pilgrims from all over the world, including Iran, have taken part in the mourning ceremonies in the Iraqi holy cities marking Arbaeen.

Imam Hossein's martyrdom - recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song - remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to Shiites, who make up a majority of the Muslim population in Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and Bahrain.